A pattern of metallic bronze leaves covers the facade of this house in Mayfair, London, by British architecture firm Squire and Partners (+ slideshow).
Squire and Partners sandwiched the five-storey house between existing buildings, retaining an eighteenth-century facade in front.
The leaf cladding, made from 4080 folded aluminium pieces, was inspired by a nearby building covered with a Virginia Creeper plant.
The building’s facades have been designed to fit in with the different areas they face.
“The east and west portions of the building are finished with a stucco render to match the existing Waverton Street facade, with full-height bronze-framed windows of traditional Georgian proportions,” said the architects.
“A discreet Cotswold Buff brick facade with oak-framed windows then faces the more utilitarian Red Lion Yard,” they added.
The interior features five bedrooms, a swimming pool, gymnasium, cinema, a rooftop pavilion and two separate roof terraces.
A living wall of native plants grows down one side of a lightwell that features in the centre of the house.
Squire and Partners approached their commission to design a private house as a crafted building, sensitive to its Mayfair Conservation Area context but with a unique contemporary presence. Sited at a junction of streets and views, and being physically linked to a listed Georgian wall at the termination of Chesterfield Mews facing Curzon Street, the building responds to a variety of contexts and viewpoints.
The project involved the retention of an existing 18th century façade facing Waverton Street, and the design of a new building comprising three linked volumes to create a unique home in central Mayfair. The accommodation provides five bedrooms, a swimming pool, gymnasium, cinema, rooftop pavilion and two separate roof terraces.
Construction involved sandwiching the retained façade between two steel frames which was then suspended while piling and construction of the lower ground floor took place. This floor then became a platform from which excavation of the two basement floors and construction of the concrete frame above could happen simultaneously, speeding up the weather tightness of the site and fast-tracking the programme.
The east and west portions of the building are finished with a stucco render to match the existing retained Waverton Street façade, with full height bronze framed windows of traditional Georgian proportions. A discreet Cotswold Buff brick façade with oak framed windows faces the more utilitarian Red Lion Yard.
The middle part of the building is set back from the restored listed wall on Chesterfield Gardens to create a light well drawing daylight into the central spaces, and features a playful bespoke leaf façade.
Sketch
The façade of this element takes inspiration from a facing building on Curzon Street, mirroring an established Virginia Creeper with a contemporary interpretation of leaves expressed as a metallic shingle.
3D sketch
The PPC coated folded aluminium leaves – 4,080 in total – subtly vary in tones of bronze to mimic organic growth patterns, and clad a three storey elevation facing Curzon Street including a rooftop pavilion.
At the centre of the c-shaped building internally, a grand double height space gives views into the light well which features a living wall planted with a variety of native plants.
Social spaces are located off the main double height volume, with the gymnasium, cinema and swimming pool situated in the two basement floors. Bedrooms are organised on the upper two levels, above which sits the stunning leaf- clad rooftop pavilion.
Project Team Client: Central Investment Properties Architect: Squire and Partners M&E: Wallace Whittle UK Ltd Structure: Heyne Tillett Steel Quantity Surveyor: Rider Hunt Planning Consultant: The London Planning Practice Contractor: GPF Lewis Ltd Interior Designer: Bill Bennette Landscaping: Haynes Design
London studio Peter Barber Architects has added an L-shaped wing to an Arts & Crafts-style building in south-east London to create an advice and training centre for unemployed people (+ slideshow).
The new two-storey brick structure extends from the rear of the early twentieth-century offices of the Poor Law Guardians of Southwark, forming a quadrangle of new and old buildings around a paved courtyard.
Peter Barber Architects specified a sandy coloured brickwork for the construction of the new wing, setting it apart from the red brick and stone facades that have been restored as part of the renovation.
To complement the turrets and other decorative elements of the Arts & Crafts architecture, the studio added a three-storey periscope-shaped tower to the north-east corner of the complex.
There’s also a semi-circular wall recess with a half-dome roof, known as an exedra, framing one end of the central courtyard.
Balconies and doorways reveal the thickness of the new walls. Meanwhile, windows on some of the existing facades have been relocated, made visible by the mixture of new and aged bricks.
The architects carried out a full renovation of the old offices, which now accommodate the administration facilities of the employment agency, while the new buildings provide the training centre.
A community cafe is positioned along the eastern facade and can be accessed directly from the adjacent Havil Street.
Read on for more information from Peter Barber Architects:
Employment Academy
The Employment Academy is a state of the art training and advice centre in Southwark. It is set up to offer skills training and support services for long term workless people with the intention of helping them back into sustainable employment.
In 2009 PBA were approached by the charity Thames Reach to make a proposal for the refurbishment and substantial extension of ET Hall’s magnificent late Arts & Craft Poor Law Guardian’s building in Camberwell, south-east London.
Barber’s scheme is laid out around a delightful courtyard formed on two sides by a new L shaped training wing. Administration offices and a community café within the existing building form the remaining sides of the courtyard. The courtyard is conceived as the social heart of the project.
New buildings are built in a rustic brick in a manner which might be called picturesque. Thick walls facing the courtyard incorporate a dramatic inset terrace, window seats and a south-facing domed exedra.
ET Hall’s treatment of the eastern wing of his building is pretty quirky, all turrets and mini towers… so Barber’s scheme adds one extra in the form of a tasty little tower with an extraordinary brick vaulted roof.
News: leading figures from London’s design institutions have warned that new immigration rules which make it harder for international students to stay in the UK after graduation could be a “disaster” for the city.
Kieran Long, senior curator at the V&A museum, described London as “a crossroads for great creative people to come and learn from their peers,” but warned: “Anything that stops that would be a disaster.”
Design Museum director Deyan Sudjic said: “London has really based its success on having 150 years of great art schools. They have been somewhat industrialised, got too big, and the government has also got quite curious about allowing students to stay once they’ve graduated. We need to be an open city, that’s what London always been.”
Last month the UK government announced changes to immigration rules that add “genuineness” interviews to the existing points-based hurdles students must clear if they wish to extend their leave to remain in the country once their course ends.
The new rules also introduce the power to refuse an application for a student visa extension where the applicant cannot speak English.
“It would be a disaster for London,” agreed Nigel Coates, professor emeritus at the Royal College of Art. “For creative people, London is the most attractive city in the world, partly because of its schools. But the government, confused as always, seems to be shooting itself – and us – in the foot.”
“It’s making it very, very difficult for AA students,” said Sadie Morgan, president of the Architectural Association school. “They give huge amounts to the UK economy. It’s a really big issue. It’s damaging and short-sighted of the UK government. They’re looking to be doing something aggressive about immigration but it is hugely damaging for schools like ours.”
Architectural firms can apply for visas on behalf of overseas graduates they want to employ, but Morgan said it was a “convoluted and expensive” process.
Sudjic added: “London is a remarkably successful place at attracting really smart, gifted young designers. They come to study here and lots of them build a practice here, not necessarily based on clients here, but on clients all around the world. London is a great place to be but it can’t be complacent and one of the things it has to do is go on attracting smart and new people and get them to stay.”
“London is welcoming, enterprising and full of opportunities”, said Max Fraser, deputy director of the London Design Festival. “It’s multiculturalism is one of its great selling points. We want to retain the best talent and the new visa restrictions are not conducive to that.”
London mayor Boris Johnson is understood to share the institutions’ concerns and convened a meeting with leading London arts schools this summer to discuss the issue. However, the mayor has no influence over national immigration policy. The UK’s Conservative government introduced the rules to appease backbench MPs, who demanded a tougher stance on immigration.
Dezeen spoke to leading figures in the design world during the London Design Festival last month to get their views on London’s position as a centre for design and the reasons for its current strength as a creative hub. The pre-eminence of London’s arts schools and its openness to immigration were the most-cited reason for the city’s standing as one of the world’s leading international centres for design.
“I think London has always been a place thats incredibly tolerant of new things, of people arriving in the city,” said Kieran Long. “We know that the city is based on immigration, and the people that are already here tolerating them and we’re really comfortable with that. In terms of design and architecture, we have some of the greatest schools in the world, a lot of people come to study here.”
He added: “I think there are threats to that, certainly we should keep London as open as it possibly can be and any political agenda that’s about closing that down somehow, to me, is anathema to what London really is.”
Sudjic said: “London is a great place to be but it can’t be complacent and one of the things it has to do is go on attracting smart and new people and get them to stay.”
Alex de Rijke, dean of the School of Architecture at the Royal College of Art, added that funding cuts and the rising reputation of schools abroad presented new threats to London. “Inevitably you produce a lot of architects that stay for a while then go and forge a career, whereas perhaps in the future that will not be the case as emerging economies all over the world will inevitably take over cultural production. So I see, not necessarily a lessening in the influence of education here, but certainly more of a diaspora of talent.”
“As other universities around the world offer amazing opportunities for the global student population, it’s increasingly difficult to be able to offer added value,” agreed Morgan. “The added value is being able to stay and work in the UK because of the huge kudos you get from working for UK practices.”
In an interview with Dezeen during the festival Patrizia Moroso, creative director of leading Italian furniture brand Moroso, praised London’s openness to students from overseas and contrasted it with the situation in Italy, where she says underinvestment in schools is leading to the collapse of its creative industries.
“The schools [in Italy] are collapsing,” she said. “When I see our universities and design schools, they are not the best in the world, they are not so important unfortunately. If you don’t give importance to learning, not immediately but in ten years you lose a generation of material culture.”
Last month the mayor of London proposed a new “London visa” to allow exceptional creative talents to bypass the lengthy new visa application system to set up businesses in London. He told the Financial Times (£): “It is a clear message to the elite of Silicon Valley or the fashionistas of Beijing that London is the place they should come to develop ideas, build new businesses and be part of an epicentre for global talent.”
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In this movie by film studio Stephenson/Bishop, Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto explains how he tried to combine nature and architecture when designing this year’s Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, which is open for three more weeks in London’s Kensington Gardens.
Built on the lawn outside the Serpentine Gallery, Sou Fujimoto‘s cloud-like pavilion comprises a grid of white poles that ascend upwards to form layered terraces with circles of transparent polycarbonate inserted to shelter from rain and reflect sunlight.
“From the beginning I didn’t think ‘I’d like to make a cloud’,” says Fujimoto, explaining how he tried to design a structure that would fit in with its surroundings. “I was impressed by the beautiful surroundings of Kensington Garden, the beautiful green, so I tried to create something that was melting into the green.”
“Of course the structure should be artificial so I tried to create something between architecture and nature; that kind of concept has been a big interest in my career so it is really natural to push forward with that concept for the future,” he adds.
Fujimoto also speaks about how he wanted to combine inside and outside space within the structure. “The transparency is quite important for me because you can feel the nature, the weather and the different climates, even from inside the pavilion,” he says.
Fujimoto is the youngest architect to design a Serpentine Gallery Pavilion. “It is kind of a dream for younger architects to be selected so I was excited, but at the same time it was kind of a big pressure ,” he said. “But I started to enjoy the whole situation and the whole challenge and for me, it was was a nice experience for the project to be abroad in a different situation than Japan.”
A collection of 1950s and 1960s products by designers including Dieter Rams, Arne Jacobsen and Dietrich Lubs for German electricals brand Braun are on display at the new Paul Smith store in London (+ slideshow).
Audio 1 compact system with record player (white version), 1962, and ‘kangaroo’ system audio stand, 1967, by Dieter Rams at Paul Smith Albemarle Street
Collectors of Braun Design products das programm curated a selection of vintage Braun products in fashion designer Paul Smith‘s recently extended store on Albemarle Street in London’s Mayfair district.
Record player by Dieter Rams, 1960
The emphasis of the small exhibition, titled White, is mainly on audio products such as radios, turntables and speaker units.
Atelier 3 / L 40 compact system and box speaker by Dieter Rams, 1962
“We’re showing 45 pieces, mostly 60s audio but also including some classic household designs,” said das programm director Peter Kapos.
PC4 record player by Dieter Rams, 1965
Dieter Rams was appointed director of Braun’s in-house design department in 1960 and began applying the standards established by the Ulm School of Design a year earlier.
RT 20 tischsuper table radio by Dieter Rams, 1961
Under his direction the company became renowned for producing rational and functionalist designs, which are widely credited as Apple creative director Jonathan Ive’s aesthetic reference for the computer company’s products.
“The influence of Braun Design on Apple design is well documented,” Kapos told Dezeen. “From the 2001 iPod onwards, Apple has been helping itself to all kinds of bits and bobs, producing a curiously accelerated collage of Braun Design.”
L 460 wall-mountable round speakers by Arne Jacobsen, 1967
Other Braun Design members are also represented in the collection. The oldest piece in the store is Hans Guglelot’s combined record player and radio from 1955, and homeware designs by Reinhold Weiss and Gerd Alfred Müller are also on show.
G 11 table radio by Hans Gugelot, 1955
The items will be displayed in the recently opened store until 7 October and Kapos will be giving tours of the exhibition in its final week – more details here.
Audio 1 compact system with record player (white version), 1962, and ‘kangaroo’ system audio stand, 1967, by Dieter Rams
Amidst the architectural and cultural ruins of post-war Germany, industrial designers considered their role in the task of reconstruction. In 1953 the Ulm school of design opened. It taught that rationally organised objects of daily use might serve as models for a more rational social form and thereby guide the maelstrom of productive forces to a more acceptable result. They called this utopian project ‘systems design’. The following year, the Braun Company approached the Ulm school with a brief to modernise their audio line. Designers Otl Aicher and Hans Guglelot, lecturers at the school, established the Braun style and produced the blueprint for a comprehensively integrated programm of household electronics.
The Ulm school is represented in the exhibition by two pieces: Gugelot’s G 11 / G 12 record player and radio combination, issued in the 1955 the inaugural year of Braun Design, and Gugelot and Rams’ SK 4 phonosuper of the following year. This pair of foundational objects are the first encountered by the visitor.
Prüfplatte A 1, unattributed, ca 1960
An in-house design department was established at Braun in 1960; Dieter Rams was appointed its director in 1961. You can see from the pieces on the bridge shelf how the Ulm style was both retained and transformed in the products issued after the services of Ulm freelancers had been dispensed with. Post-1960 Braun designs remain orderly and rational, according to functionalist principles. But the first designs’ rather Scandinavian-modern references to nature are replaced by a more severe and emphatically industrial material vocabulary.
Just as important was the transformation in the interrelation of individual designs. The Braun audio designs of the 1960s were no longer conceived as single items related to others in the programm by a more or less common aesthetic. Now, the program was thought of as a single integrated system consisting of functionally compatible elements under a fully unified aesthetic regime. In this way the entire Braun programm of the 1960s unfolded as a unitary modular system.
KF 21 coffee machine by Florian Seiffert, 1976
The examples presented in the main space have been selected to express the formal and functional unity and systematicity of the 60s Braun program. The audio designs of this period, all by Dieter Rams, may be divided into two groups: light weight turntables, small radios and speaker units, and larger more substantial system elements. The largest of these at the far end of the room is the Audio 1 integrated system sitting on the ‘kangaroo’ modular stand. Despite the formal variety, the distinctive characteristic of 1960s Braun Design is its overarching coherence. It all ‘locks’ together.
It’s interesting to think that at this time Dieter Rams was also drawing furniture designs on the same principles for production and sale by Vitsoe, then Vitsoe+Zapf. The idea was that audio design, furniture design (and toaster design for that matter) should fuse into a single interlocked whole – a total rational environment that we might imagine extending outwards to the design of buildings, districts and cities…
KM 3 mixer system by Gerd Alfred Müller, 1957
Because space is limited the emphasis of the exhibition is placed on audio products. However, the Braun program of the 1960s also encompassed extensive kitchen, misc. household, lighter, dry shaving and photography ranges. The pair of ‘Das Braun Programm’ posters by the till presents something of this scope.
As in the audio segment, these products related to every other as parts of a rational, aesthetically unified whole. Indeed, the graphic design of these posters itself, in its systematic arrangement on a grid, contributes to this unity, as did the design of every other piece of Braun printed material from packaging down to guarantee cards and instructions for use – see as examples the KF 1000 headphone and MX 1 111 child’s toy.
ABK 20 wall clock by Dietrich Lubs, 1985
Presented on the bay of shelves are a few iconic examples of Braun household products. Of these, Reinhold Weiss’ HL 1 multiwind desk fan and KMM 1 coffee grinder are particularly important. Weiss joined the Braun Company as a graduate of the Ulm School in 1960 and continued to practice systems design according to its original idea. Ram’s designs tended to be simple cubular forms. A tension between rational rigour and idiosyncrasy in the arrangement of control elements provides ‘interest’. Weiss’ designs, on the other hand, are both more fully abstract and three dimensional. The device is broken down into functionally discrete units – base, stem, motor block, fan head, cowl – that are then articulated as sculptural elements, a series of volumes, densities, textures and masses. The result is at once functionally and constructionally concrete, and highly abstract.
It’s interesting to compare Weiss’ functionalism with that of his colleague Gerd Alfred Müller, whose iconic KM 3 food processor sits on the top shelf. Müller articulates the functional elements of the device – motorblock/gearing/tool – with great clarity as distinct strata imposed upon a flowing organic form, a horizontally ordered series of cuts. This form encloses the bowl; notice how its lip aligns with the top edge of the gearing block. A distinctive feature of 1960s Braun Design is the fine balance struck between difference and identity. Rams, Weiss and Müller drew up designs with very distinct characters that nevertheless belonged unambiguously to a single programm.
Tonearmwaage tone arm scale by Dieter Rams, 1962
The period of Braun Design is defined as 1955 – 1995, beginning with the first of the modernist designs and ending when Dieter Rams stepped down as Director of the Design Department. However, our exhibition focuses almost entirely on designs issued before 1968. In 1968 the Gillette Company acquired a controlling share in Braun and thereafter stopped the economically irrational practice of cross-subsiding product lines. In particular, profits from the dry shaving sector, which made up the largest part of company earnings were no longer permitted to offset losses incurred by the grandiose design folly that was the Braun audio program.
Interesting as it was, outside a small group of German middle class intellectuals there just wasn’t the demand for it. Post-68 Braun Design was increasingly led by market research, which very quickly brought about the demise of the functionalist adventure in systems design. To be sure, great designs still continued to be produced at Braun after 1968. See for example the astonishing KF 21 coffee filter on the plinth opposite the shelves. But these tend to stand out as singular designs. Shaped by marketing requirements, what remained of the programm increasingly found itself reflecting existing conditions. Perhaps, the expansive ‘kangaroo’ system stand (of which only a small part is shown here) represents the last attempt at designing in a truly utopian mode, that is, one that reaches beyond what presently exists to something qualitatively new…
Under the present stewardship of Proctor and Gamble, owners of the Gillette Company, Braun continues to extend the company tradition of offering products of the highest quality in terms of design and manufacture. Its offering is now almost entirely restricted to personal grooming. Recently, a number of interesting discontinued products of the Braun Design period have been re-issued. Amongst these are Rams’ DW 30 digital watch of 1979, Dietrich Lubs’ AB 30 vs alarm clock and Rams and Lubs’ superb ET 66 calculator. These are displayed for sale in the till area.
London Design Festival 2013: Lebanese designer Najla El Zein has sent us this movie showing her 5000 spinning paper windmills being installed in a doorway at the V&A museum in London (+ movie).
In the movie, Zein says that the installation aims to make visitors feel and hear that they are transitioning between two spaces. “It defines an exaggeration of a specific sensorial moment that each one of us experiences throughout our daily lives,” she says.
“The wind portal tries to grasp and emphasise common emotions and senses that are often forgotten,” she adds.
The film also shows the designer creating each of the windmills by hand-folding paper and fixing them in place with hand-sculpted wooden joints. Each windmill is then attached to the vertical poles with 3D-printed clips.
A computerised wind system controls which windmills spin at any time by letting air escape through tiny holes in the uprights. “Different speeds of wind were programmed, resulting in different speeds, sounds and feelings,” explains the designer.
Later in the film, visitors can be seen walking through the two parted gates, which although static, appear to be shut when viewed from certain angles. “According to the angle you are positioned, one would perceive the gate as being closed. As soon as you approach it the gate seems to open up,” Zein says.
Photography and films are courtesy of Najla El Zein Studio.
Here’s a full project description from the designer:
The Wind Portal
The Wind Portal is a walk-through installation that represents a transition space from an inside to an outside area. It defines an exaggeration of a specific sensorial moment that each one of us experiences throughout our daily lives.
Wind and sound are the elements that makes us understand our environmental context.
The Wind Portal installation is shaped as a monumental gate of eight metre-high and composed of thousands of paper windmills that spin, thanks to an integrated wind system.
The aim was to make visitors feel, hear and become aware of transitioning through two spaces.
The wind portal tries to grasp and emphasise on common emotions and senses that are often forgotten.
Its architectural shape works as an illusion effect where, according to the angle you are positioned from, one would perceive the gate as being closed. As soon as you approach it the gate seems to open up.
The installation blends in different technologies and materials such as hand-folded paper windmills, hand-sculpted wooden joints, 3D printed clips, and a complex wind and light computerised system.
Different flows of wind are programmed resulting into different speeds, sounds and feelings. The light, which seems to play with the wind flow, gives us an impression of a breathing piece. Indeed, the gate breathes in and out, where wind is its main source of life.
Studio team: Najla El Zein, Dina Mahmoud, Sara Moundalek, Sarah Naim Lighting designer and automation: Maurice Asso and Hilights
Product news: London designer Roger Arquer has created a salt and pepper mill with removable silicone lids for mixing and serving seasoning (+ slideshow).
Arquer‘s Pinch&Grind product range, designed for Dutch brand Royal VKB, also includes mixing jars with the same square silicone lids for blending and storing herbs and spices.
“Taking salt or herbs between your fingers and adding them to your food has become common practice,” said Arquer. “The silicone lids of the mill and jars allow users to open them easily, and pinch directly from them. Also, by turning the lid upside down it can be used as a pinch dish.”
The transparent mixing jars are available with a range of red, white, green and yellow coloured lids. The taller mills are available with black lids and have a transparent section to reveal the seasoning inside.
Arquer has also designed a triangular-shaped jug with a different sized pouring spout at each point. A large spout is designed for pouring thick batter, a medium one for vinaigrette, and a thin one for filtering fruits and ice or to drizzle salad dressing. “It is perfectly capable for pouring anything you mix, in any consistency,” said Arquer.
Here are two project descriptions from the designer:
Pinch&Grind
Pinch&Grind takes a new inside into spices. There is the traditional salt and pepper mill, with the addition of mixing jars for preparing your own blends.
Taking salt or herbs between your fingers and adding them to your food is nowadays a common practice known as “pinching”. We are often extracting some salt or peppercorns from the mill itself to add to a spice mix.
The silicon lid of the mill or jars, allows to open them easily, and pinch directly from them. Also by turning the lid upside down it can be used as a pinch dish.
The transparent jars with coloured lids (red-chilly based, white-salt based, green-herb based and yellow-curry based) so that you can easily identify a particular spice mix you have created. The contents of the jars can then be simply transferred into the mill followed by switching the coloured lid to the mill so then you know which spice mix is in the mill.
The main body and the top have a square profile for a better handling. The top lid is made of silicon, which gives an excellent grip, even if the hands are oily (when cooking).
Spouts
Spouts is a multifunctional jug with three different pouring ends. Its soft triangular shape holds a different spout on each corner. A wide and raised spout for pouring thick batter, a medium one for vinaigrette, and a thin one for filtering (fruit, mint, ice…) or drizzle salad dressing. It is perfectly capable for pouring anything you mix, in any consistency.
Spouts have a big enough base so it is ideal to use with a hand blender to prepare your favourite smoothies or shakes. Spouts have the international measuring indicator (cups, ml and fl.oz) discreetly engraved one each of the three different sides walls. So it is possible to accurately measure the ingredients desired to create your mixes. As the indicators are so discrete, they can be used for preparing and serving directly onto the table.
Incase of any leftovers, then simply close the Jug with our airtight silicon lid to keep the ingredients fresh for longer, in or out of the fridge.
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